Name Name

Seed Cathedral

As it nears completion, the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010—dubbed "Seed Cathedral"— is shaping up to be a mindblowing piece of architecture.

Designed by British star architect Thomas Heatherwick, the pavilion is covered in 60,000 transparent rods. During the day the fiber optic rods gather natural light and illuminate the interior of the pavilion. At night the rods transport the light from the inside to the exterior, and the building glows.

The nickname comes from the seeds that are contained at the tip of each rod. In fact, Seed Cathedral houses the largest collection of wild plant seeds in the world. After the expo the rods and seeds will be distributed to schools in China and the UK.